Tracking Malleshwaram MLA Ashwath Narayan

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A doctor by qualification, C N Ashwath Narayan has been a long-time Malleshwaram resident. He contested the assembly polls from Malleshwaram thrice, and has won twice, his entry as a winner being in 2008.

He, directly or indirectly, was a part of many businesses and charitable trusts, including Padmashree Medicare Private Limited, TKN Global Education Services, Padmashree Charitable Trust, Padmashree Diagnostics and Malleshwaram Sports Foundation, but not anymore.

He has been in the news in recent times for the multiple manifesto outreach programs he has been organising. His administrative initiatives have been largely in the medical sector with Health and Care for insurance and social care for seniors.

His 2008 affidavit had a declaration of 5.54 crores asset, and the 2013 affidavit had 15.93 crores.

March 22, 2016: Ashwath Narayan spoke in the assembly against Venkatappa Art Gallery being handed over to a private trust, and requested the assembly to discuss the issue.

March 23, 2017: During the discussion of a bill, Ashwath Narayan requested that the registration of doctors in Karnataka Medical Council be made Aadhaar-enabled, to avoid fake doctors getting registered.

June 19, 2017: He spoke about the budget spends in health sector, healthcare in government hospitals, fund utilisation under National Health Mission, inaction of the government in marks card tampering and examination malpractice in medical education institutes.

June 20, 2017: Ashwath Narayan participated in the discussion on KPME act, and objected to leasing out the construction work of a hospital in Udupi to a private organisation. The minister clarified that the hospital will continue to be a government hospital.

(This data has been taken from the uncorrected version of the debates uploaded in kla.kar.nic.in, but do not include expunged words or subjects. The data was compiled using a simple word search for the MLA’s name in different combinations, and may not include all the instances.)

In the news

June 24, 2013: MLA Ashwath Narayan handed out scholarships to 1500 needy students in Malleswaram at a civic awareness drive.

December 27, 2016: 160 CCTV camera were installed in seven wards of Malleshwaram, to help the police nab culprits responsible for the illegal dumping of garbage. The MLA supposedly gave Rs 40 lakhs from the MLA fund towards installing them.

November 12, 2016: Ashwath Narayan participated in an initiative hosted by TOI to bridge the communication gap between the authorities and citizens of the locality. This was an opportunity for the citizens to air their grievances.

September 24, 2017: He was among the protesting MLAs in front of the Mahalakshmi layout police station, asking for a withdrawal of the notice served to BS Yeddyurappa, who was being accused of kidnapping ABVP leader Vinay Bidra.

November 1, 2017: Ashwath Narayan, member of the joint select committee, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association, said that the committee had spoken to the government about clubbing private and government hospitals to make laws more transparent and easy to amend. This was during the protests against KPME Bill.

November 29, 2017: The MLA said the indoor basketball stadium in construction for the past 11 years will be completed soon, with speeded up process.

January 30, 2018: He wrote to the Election Commission asking them to introduce changes in the electoral process, especially by making the system of updating the electoral rolls ongoing and ensuring voters IDs are delivered by post.

In five years, according to the available data, Ashwath Narayan has spent Rs 4.282 crores out of the Rs 10 crore funds that he is entitled to as an MLA. His maximum expenditure seems to have been on sports infrastructure for education-related institutions. He spent 98.24 lakhs on constructing indoor volleyball stadium near Chandrashekhar Azad ground. Other education-related infrastructure, including sports equipment, toilets, gymnasia, yoga, housing and hostel complexes and workshops received allocations at different ranges.

Rainwater harvesting, installation of electrical lights and other developmental works on the sixth floor of a government school received a grant of Rs 10 lakh from him.

The MLA did not make use of the funds to the fullest extent. He said in an interview to Citizen Matters that he wanted the restrictions on MLA LAD fund usage gone. Some attention seems to have been given to road development, toilets and health infrastructure as they are school-related, but there is no money allotted for building bus shelters, parks or other forms of community infrastructure additions.

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Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, BJP, won the 2008 Assembly elections from Malleshwaram by a margin of about 8000 votes. Learn more about this first time MLA who is a doctor by profession, his assets, performance and his take on widening Sankey road for smooth flow of traffic.